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SAID 



BY 



BETSEY ANN SMITH ROBKRTS 



PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE "ADVANCE," I'ATCHOGUK, L. I. 
1876. 

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Entered according to Act oj Congress. 



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The ot^er 4fay, Charlie seemed to b^, 

In a very de-ep soliloquy 

And, as I was passing that way, 

I thovight I would listen to wha,t he had to say. 

He aaid, "the reason he did not trot fast, 

Was. because he could pot forget the past; 

And he never ajiould livQ to be so old, ^ ^, , 

As to forget UP.W, ai^^onestly, ^e liad been bought ^ud 

6o\d 
Had heard men tell hundreds of lies, 
And seen t^em bribe thd^ hp^tJers on the sly-rr 
And all, for the sake of a dollar or two; 
Swear .that white ^as black, or that green was blu^ ; 
Said that he feared not the grave, 
As he had not a soijl to be lost or saved; 
But he felt to pity unscraplous men, 
That would perjure their souls again and a/;am; A 
Supposeci that when he had finished his race, 
He would go . o horse heaven if there was such a place, 
And allowed that he would die as easily, when he djed. 
As ^e men who told such monstrous lies. 
Those men are sure of having a good fire, free. 
Whilst futurity has naught for me. 
I have felt thankful to God many a time, 
That I was no^ ?illied to mankiud. 
He gave them inte^lept, ?nd upright they stand, 



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WHAT AN OLD HOB8E SAID. 



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Thoa.2;h made in His image, they break all His 

comminds. 
What God does, is done well; 
But some m( n are deiermioed to get lo her. 
They have worked me many a day, though I was 

powrly fed ; 
At night I bad nothing, but the cold earth for my bed; 
it mattered not, how hard I worked, 
1 was sure to receive the lash, kicks and jerks. 
Often had I to stand f jr hours out iu the cold. 
While my master was inside a filthy rum- hole. 
I have been forced oy ungodiy men, 
To desecratf tue Sabbath, aTam and agnin; 
' Pis their deligbt to spend that Jay at some rendezvous 

of sin. 
Where they cai. swear, drink rum and gin. 
Outside, I had to stdnd, tied to an old dry tree. 
Not one drop of water or oates for me; 
At night they would come out singing Bacchanalian 

bongs, 
And accost me with 'Get up old 'azy bones— go alongl 
Oblivious to all decency, then. 
They would drive to the house of some courtesan. 
God never repented that he made a horse, 
But at intellectual man he was very wroth. 
1 should like to rise, at the judgment day, 
Just to hear what some men will have to say. 
Perchance, my hour of triumph will then be, 
The good Lord may unloose my tongue and set it free 
And place me on the witness stand.' quoth he. 
Some men will feel worse than they ever made me. 
My testimony will them more appall. 
Than to see a hand writing ot3 the wall. 
For a clean breast of truth I would make. 
Worse than Belshazzar they will quake. 
When that great court day shall come, 



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WHAT A» OLD HOESE SAID. 3 



f he number of judges shall be only One. 

Chattering lawyers will have to hold their peace, 

There will be no clients for them to fleece- 

Nineteen hundred years ago, 

Christ pronounced upon them a woe; 

The judge will say to them ere long, 

* Lawyers, your occupation is gone. 

All causes here are individual ones; 

It is not what this or that one done. 

Lawyers, to all eternity. 

Are sure of having a good fire free ; 

There be no Habeas Corpus there, 

To rescue men from black despair 

The proes and cons used by men, 

Will have no weight or bearing then. 

The Code Napoleon will be spun out, 

Coke and Blackstone will get a rout 

Lawyers then can twirl their thum. 

And whistle twiddle de, twiddle dum. 

Years ago I was purchased by a prelate 

And as I was soon going to the country, to his estate, 

My heart felt light, and my spirits weie high 

For to the din of the city, I'd soon say good-bye. 

I made a short prayer, and thanked the Gods 

That instiead of hard pavemsuls IM soon tioad soft 9( d. 

I hoped to be freer from toil and strife, 

And enioy tue eorafoi ts of a laml life; 

I thought of the hills and vallevs so fair, 

And I longed for a breath of fresh mountain air. 

To see the waving corn aod meadow green 

And quench my thirst in the purling stream. 

Next morning we set out for the country, 

And I trotted aloag right merrily. 

Although my shoes were loose, and my feet were sore, 

Hope buoyed me up and my ills 1 bore. 

Many a weary traveler would not have beld to the end, 



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A WHAT AN OLD HOBSE SAID. 



If hope had not sustained him and been his friend. 

It is well that the future is hi^lden from us 

And hope given to cheer us that the heart may not 

burst. 
He urged nae along at a rapid rate, 
For home he would get before it was late. 
I pit forth all my energies, 
Desirous, if possible, to please, 

But I thought I should fall before 1 reached t e gate. 
For over two hundred was ilie weight of the old Pre 

late. 
As there is an end to all journeys below, 
So at sunset we arrived and he said : " Whoa!'* 
After dark — what do you think ? — 
He came and drew water for me to drink, 
Then turned me into his neighbor's corn, — 
I never was more su '-prised ;ince I was bom- 
Told me to eat my fill through the night,', 
And he would return for me at daylight. 
Ye Gode, thought I, what does this meaa ? 

Is this reallity, or do 1 dream? 

Has he put me here to eat a poor man's corn 

When he has bushels in his barn ? 

Only yesterday 1 heard him say 

That he had enough for years, stowed away. 

Before 1 would to hunger s cravings yield, 

I felt as h angry as any horse could feel, 

But as hunger knows no law, so I. 

There was no altemutive, I must eat or die. 

It is almost impossible, but Til do the best I can 

To give you a faciil description of that man. 

Two small, sinister twinkling eyes !>elonged to him, 

And he had a round, broad double chin; 

As to the shape of his prominent nose, 

It reminded you at once of a cockatoo's. 

His mouth resembled not that of Power's Greek slave. 



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WHAT AN OLD HOB8E SAID. 



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But bespoke at once it belonged to a knave. 

His teeth were white, of the Irish style, 

And showed to advantage when he smiled. 

He knew there was power in a scornful, or a winning 

look, 
And he was not a novice at using that hook. 
His smiles were of the fox and snakish kind» 
And his hair hung down in a que behind; 
Around his throat was a white neck-tie 
Folded neatly, and he wore it high. 
His voice was a powerful one. 

You would think Jove was thundering, when he begun. 
He could pitch it to almost any key. 
At times il was sonorous, with melody. 
1 assure you, it was Bass vhen he took me to the 

barn 
Just then be wished not applause or to create alarm, 
But it rang out as clear as a clarionet 
When he told his hostler to get up and get. 
I have heard ditferent men swear in my time, 
Bui never knew one that was as proficient as he in 

that line. 
He had reached the higbt of sublimity, 
If in swearinu such a thing could be. 
At eleven he was dressed as neat as a pin, 
And ue looked as meek and free from sin 
As the stars looked the night before. 
When I heard him lock his granery door, 
As he stalked forth in the height of his pride, 
He outdone a Gobbler at every stride, 
"Come, Charlie, my good horse," said he. 
To day you will visit my flock with me. 
His wite came out to bid him good-bye, 
♦' And O ! adieu," he said, as he winked bis eye, 
" My dear, you just mind your P*s and Q's 
And reflect I've a bone to pick with you. 



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WHAT AN OLD HOBSE SAID. 



He kissed the sisters in a fatherly way, 

And exhorted the brethren to watch and pray, 

And not be eager to board up gold, 

If at last they desired to enter the fold. 

Not to engross themselves in worldly affairs, 

But give to the church all they could spare. 

And n prayer to their Saviour draw near, 

And seek for sanctification here. 

Paramount to all other sins, said he. 

Beware of the heinous sin of adultery. 

He said, whilst tears streamed from his eyes, 

That years ago he was sanctified, 

Althouga he lived in this world of strife and sio. 

He had long felt true inwardness within. 

•' It IS more than thirty years," be said, with a whine, 

" Since he had committed a sin of any kind. 

Most assuredly all good men will pass through heaven's 

gate. 
But I think it will be too narrow for that old Prelate. 
I have often neard women traduced by men 
That no good or wisdom 3welt in them. 
In a few words my opinion I'll give. 
A close observer I've been, whilst I have lived. 
And a silent witness to the treachery of men. 
I wish that I could truthfully say more good of 

them, 
Because womt^n are more apt than they, 
Men adroitly strive to keep them at bay, 
It was not her that denied her Lord, 
Or for His life tookarewird. 
She never nailed Him to the tree. 
She proved her love by her fidelity, 
Stood by Him to the last, we know, 
And to the sepulchre she was the first to go. 
It was her that served that He might eat, 
And with her tears she washed His feet. 



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WHAT AN OLD HOBSB SAID. 



Kneeling, she kissed them o*er aiid o'er. 
Perfume and precious ointment oti them poured. 
Wiped them dry with the hair of her head, 
" But she wasted the ointment so selfish," Siimofl said. 
Men then as now, 

Were jealous of woman's sui^erior excellence, I tt-ow, 
And exerted all the faculties of their brains 
The spirit of women to enchain. 
His disciples never gave Him shelter, mantle. 6t coat, 
Not one of them ever gave Him as much as a groat ; 
They thought they had gained a point when 
They brought in a woman for Him to condemn*, 
" We found her in the very act of adultery. 
And forthwith brought her unto Thee. 
By the la *v of Moses she ought to die." 
Impatiently they waited tor His reply. 
Then spake the wonderful one : 
" Let him that is innocent cast the first stone," 
They were self-condemned, and one by one 
They went away speechless, not caisting a, st(Mie. 
That scene is symbolical of the last day, 
When brutish men will have nothing to say. 
Their trying to make scape- goats of the feminine race, 
Shows they have apprehensions of a very hot plac0» 
A canker worm fjnaws at the he&rt 
Of men, that basely act their part. 
And pour contumely in their rage 
On the weak?r vessel, from age to age. 
In such men's compositons magnanimity 
Is found in only very small commodities. 
Candidly, my opinion of woman is, I ween, 
That in all good deeds they do surpass the men. 
When I have been beaten unmercifully. 
It were wives and children that plead for me, 
I believe that most wifes and children, when they die. 
Will go to bliss beyond the skies, 



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WHAT AN OLD HOESE SAID. 



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And that the majority of angles there 

Will be wives and children, [ do declare. 

Adam's sons are time sanctioned, it seems, 

To use their vivacious tongue ; and pens, 

To pour vituperation on defenceless women. 

They have exhausted that theme the truth to tell, 

And the stiller they keep the sweeter they will smell. 

Anyone with discernment can see 

That between her and Jesus there exists a strong 

affinity. 
Adam was a coward, that they cannot demur, 
And his first-born was a murderer. 
What man was ever iu pain, or near despair, 
That did not unselfish woman repair ? 
It was her that watched o'er his helpless infancy 
ALd taught him to pray on bended knee. 
Again in old age to whom do they flee 
For encouragement, comfort and sympathy ? 
It's to forgiving woman On her they can depend, 
For she will cheri-Jh and solace 'hem to the end. 
Ah me ! both women and men. 
Shall have the same measure they mete here, meted 

again. 
If mother Eve was the first to trangress iho law. 
It was her daughter Mary that mended the flaw. 
She gave as a ransome, her Son Divine; 
He bore the sins, and gave life and health to human-kind. 
And before man or angel knew whal was done, 
Mary and Elizabeth rejoiced over God's only Son. 
Though here, by men, they are subjugated and 

tyrannized, 
They derive strength unseen by man, from on high. 
A very few malidictlons were pronounced on them. 
Whilst a score or more hang over the men. 
Women's streng' h lies in faith, tears and prayer. 
And ungodly men had better beware. 



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WHAT AN OLD HOESE SAID. 



And treat women with kindness and complacency, 

For in that land where fire is free, 

It's a very few women I think they'll see. 

She is flesh of their flesh, and bone of their bore. 

If they do not repent here, hereafter they will 

groan, 
Rumsellers, usurers, and horse jockeys 
Will go to that arid land where fire is free. 
In thai dry land, they will take a long dry sweat. 
They showed no pity here, there, none they get; 
And a glimering vail, will them obscure, 
From that temperate land of vvaters pure. 
All that they 'gained here, by ungodly ends. 

They would give for one quaff of water then. 

When my thoughts revert to this subject, 

It stirs up all that is in me antagonistic. 

We are bid to press forward and farget the past, 

As no earthy ills can forever last. 

It would be much better for all of us, 

If mem'ry on s )me topics was more treacherous. 

We would not be liappy, if we were Kings, 

If we let our thoughts dwell on unpleasant things. 

Alack, he is a fool, aad will find it so, 

If he is looking for a heaven below. 

I now belong to one Mrs. Van est, 

She is neither a she bear, nor a lioness, 

Her actions will bear close scrutiny. 

And her motto is, "Thou God seest me." 

Slie knows that gratitude in my bosom dwells; 

I love her because she treats me well. 

Tis kind words and acts that makes love endure. 

And a horse does appreciate good trettment, sure. 

Use a horse well, and you will soon find, , 

That depravity dwells not in him, but in mankind. 

Though an old horse, 1 have had my say, 
It's soon I must die, and crumble away. 



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WHAT AN OLD HOBSE SAID. 



But before I into oblivion go, 

I'll crave a blessing on all below. 

God bless the men, and their better halves too, 

And help one and all the right course to pursue. 

May they repent, be honest and live soberly, 

And all escape that land where fire is free. 

Betsbt Ann Smith Robeets. 



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